The Veil
by Shira Lansys
Summary: The story of Sirius after he passes through the veil. Not cannon compliant. Contains slash of the RemusSirius variety. Enjoy!
1. Prologue

"_The first thing you have to understand about the Veil is that it isn't a veil."_

"_If it isn't a veil, then what is it?"_

"_It doesn't matter what it is. It just isn't a veil."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Stop asking questions. Do you want to know the story or not?"_

"_Sorry."_

"_That's quite alright."_

_An old man and a young boy sat on a large rock in the middle of a green forest. A paper bag containing sandwiches sat in between them. The boy kept glancing at it hungrily (in his opinion, it had been quite a while since breakfast), but the old man seemed unaware of its existence. _

"_So do you understand that the Veil isn't a veil?"_

"_Yes," the boy said, beginning to get impatient. _

"_What is the Veil?"_

"_Erm…not a veil?"_

"_Well done. And why isn't it a veil?"_

"_I don't know, you wouldn't tell me!"_

_The old man chuckled. "Quite right. Alright, so you want to hear the story of the Veil?"_

"_Yes!" The boy exclaimed. He was being rather impertinent, and by now his mother would have sent him to bed without supper, but the old man seemed more amused than annoyed. At least, the boy thought so. His long white beard hid his smile, but, if one looked closely, they would see the twinkle in his eye. _

"_Very well then. Do you see the Veil? The archway in the centre of the clearing?"_

_The boy wondered how he couldn't. He had been staring at it in wonder for the past ten minutes, and straining his ears to understand the whispering that he could hear coming from it. _

"_Yes, I see it."_

"_Well, that archway wasn't always here. It has been moved around from place to place since to dawn of time. At least, that's what the rumours don't know where it came from originally. There are many places around the world like it; they don't look like veils, though. But they do the same thing."_

_The boy interrupted at this point. "What does it do?" His eyes were wide, and he had completely forgotten the sandwiches. _

"_Patience, young Romulus. We will get to that soon enough._

"_The Veil was strongly magical, and, out of fear that it was dangerous, the ministry seized it. This was about the time of the First Great War, and, as their resources were tied up fighting Lord Voldemort, they sent it into a secure room in the Department of Mysteries. _

"_After a few years, the war was won, temporarily of course. As the false peace followed, the Veil was investigated. No one could work out its secrets; in fact, very few people were willing to try once they had seen it. It seemed to intimidate people._

"_Three people were sent to walk through the Veil before the Second Great War. Only two came out the other side."_

"_What happened to the other one?" Romulus asked. The old man smiled._

"_The ministry never found out, and probably never will. But I'll tell you later; that is the second part of my story._

"_At the start of the Second Great War, there was a battle in the Department of Mysteries. Eventually, the fight was taken into the room with the veil. In this fight was Sirius Black."_

_Romulus let out a small gasp. He had, of course, heard the tales of the War, and Sirius had become a sort of idol for the boy. He always wanted to hear about Sirius, although the tales his family would tell him always stopped short of his hero's death._

"_Did he die?" He asked, in a hushed voice. The old man nodded gravely. _

"_In a way. He got hit with a spell and fell through the Veil. Harry Potter, his godson, wanted to go after him, but he was held back."_

"_Would Harry Potter have died too?" _

"_No. Harry would have been like the other two, and would have passed right through and come out safe and sound the other side."_

"_Why?"_

"_It will become clearer when I explain what happens when you pass through the Veil."_

"_Can you explain it now? Please?" _

"_I'm getting there. Now, the Veil, and the other areas like it, is actually a rift between this world and the spirit world. It's the reason why we have ghosts. When you die, you cross the void and go to the other side, but ghosts choose to come back through into the world of the living. _

"_The same is in reverse. When you physically walk through the Veil, you head to a world of spirits. But you can't see the spirits, so it just looks like you spend your time walking in a wasteland. Your only company is the other people like you."_

"_You sound as though you've been there."_

"_I'm one of the rare few who have known someone who's gone there. I think I might be the only person in the world to have spoken to them after they've come back."_

"_Who was it?" Romulus's eyes were wide open with reverence. "Who was it, Grandfather Teddy?"_

_Teddy looked at his grandson gravely. "It was my father, who went in search of his lover after my mother died."_

"_Who was his lover?"_

"_Sirius Black."_


	2. Lost

Forever stumbling through this barren wasteland, never stopping, never resting, never changing. The ground was always the same - dry and wet, steep and flat, uneven and as smooth as a paved road, all at the same time. Sometimes Sirius thought that it was a little like a desert with its constant, unchanging scenery. Except at least you could _describe_ a desert.

Sirius did nothing but walk. The only thing he could remember was the moments when he first arrived, and even that was fading as the days went by. Or at least he _thought _the days went by - in this world, it was a constant twilight, with no night or day. There wasn't even a light source, just a dim illumination to the place.

He remembered falling through the Veil. His cousin had shot a curse at him. It hadn't been a killing curse, but it had stunned him, and he had been unable to prevent himself falling through the thin piece of cloth. The next thing he had remembered had been waking up lying on a dirty ground, with not a physical feature but this never ending expanse of land.

He had walked for an immeasurable amount of time, trying to find somewhere he recognised, or even just something that looked _different_ than the rest of the place. But the scenery didn't change, and neither did he run into anyone who could tell him where he was.

Eventually he stopped looking for anything or anyone. He just continued to walk; ceaseless, never-ending, never-faltering walking. There was no purpose; all he knew was that he had to go on.

Time was of no consequence. Sirius had been walking for forever, and would continue for many forevers more. He had no need to sleep, and his feet never wearied.

After what could have been as short as several days or as long as several eternities, Sirius began to question why he was walking. He clearly wasn't getting anywhere, so what was the point?

Without further hesitation, Sirius literally collapsed to the ground. He hit it hard, but felt no pain.

_'Is this hell?' _He wondered to himself. It wasn't entirely terrifying, but it was so wearisome that he could easily imagine this wasteland as a place for the eternally damned. He had no cause to move, no urge to spur him forwards. He just lay there.

* * *

><p>He drifted, thoughts floating by. He made little attempt to latch onto them, instead watching them like clouds. The thoughts he did focus on soon merged with other ones, or changed to form new ones, and were forgotten. Faces hovered before his eyes, places glided by, and emotions became visible pictures that he could observe like they were a work of art.<p>

He lay there like that for so long that he had forgotten the world outside his mind even existed. It wasn't until someone shook his shoulders that his almost unconscious state was invaded. A voice called to him, sounding distant as though someone was yelling from a hundred kilometres away. Reluctantly Sirius returned to reality (or whatever this warped dream-like place was).

"Wake up. Don't go to sleep. Come on, wake up." It was an old, cracked, female voice that spoke, and slowly consciousness returned to Sirius's mind. As his vision blurred back into existence, the first thing Sirius saw was an old, wrinkled face smiling down on him.

"You don't want to stop here," the old woman said. "You won't wake up."

"Wha-" Sirius said blearily. Sitting up seemed like too much of an effort though, and halfway through the motion he slumped back down.

"No," the woman insisted, pulling at Sirius's hand, trying to force him up. She was so tiny and frail that she would never have succeeded, but Sirius realised he would not be able to get back to sleep with her hassling him.

"Leave me alone…" He muttered half-heartedly. The old woman continued.

"You have to wake up. Keep moving, it will do you good." The old woman was clearly stronger than she looked, as she began to drag Sirius along the ground. Resignedly he scrambled up.

His legs felt like lead and, for the first few paces he took (still being dragged be the woman), it was as though he was walking through quicksand. But gradually it became easier to move and it wasn't long before he was striding alongside the woman.

"Who are you?" he asked curiously.

The woman grinned. "I'm the person who just saved you."

"From what?"

"From this place. If you lie down, you won't get up again. It might look like nothing happens in this world, but the ground does shift. There might be no wind to blow the dirt, nor any normal dirt to blow, but eventually you would have been buried, far below the surface, never to rise."

For some reason, Sirius believed her. "What is this place?" he asked.

"It's the spirit world."

"So I'm dead?"

"No, just in the realms of it. You're still living, but you are trapped here."

Sirius shuddered. This didn't seem like a pleasant afterlife. The woman saw the gesture.

"You can't see the world the spirits live in - this is just the base they build their heaven from. The living can't see them or their creations, and are doomed to wander here for eternity, or until they find their own heaven."

"How can I find my own heaven if I can't see anything but this wasteland?" Sirius asked. The old woman laughed.

"But you can. You can see anything that is here from the world of the living. See."

She waved her hand, and Sirius jumped as an oasis appeared right before his eyes. "What is this?" He asked, approaching the pool slowly.

"It's drinkable, if you are thirsty."

Sirius wasn't, but he felt like he wanted to drink anyway. He bent down and collected a handful of water in his cupped hands, relishing the feel of the cool wetness. This place had no temperature, and therefore no heat for the coldness to relieve, but the sensation was pleasant regardless.

"But your heaven is not an oasis, is it?" The woman asked. Sirius shook his head.

"I don't think so, no. I don't even know what my heaven is."

"It is the thing that would make you the happiest here, in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps, the one person who you would chose to spend eternity with here?" Her voice took on a knowing tone, and an image of someone flashed through Sirius's mind.

"How will I find them?" He asked. "All the people I know are still on the other side of the Veil, or they are dead and in their own heaven."

"This world will provide," was his only response. He lounged about by the side of the water for a while longer, his mind blissfully blank, before he thought of another question he wanted to ask.

"How do you know all this?" He turned to face the woman again, in time to see her shake her head.

"I just do. Remember, don't stop walking. If you walk long enough, you will find your piece of heaven."

Sirius blinked. When he opened his eyes, the woman and the oasis was gone and Sirius was lying on the ground, where he had collapsed, as though it had been nothing more than a dream of his while he had taken a nap.

_'It didn't feel like a dream though,'_ Sirius thought as he heaved himself to his feet. _'It felt as though it was real.'_

But perhaps it was just him hoping that what the woman had said was true. After all, Sirius would very much like his own heaven to save him from this accursed walking.

He didn't need to think twice to know what his heaven would be.


	3. Found

Remus didn't know how much time he had before he got caught. Judging from the watch duties undertaken by others over the past year, he knew this department wasn't frequented very often, but that did not guarantee his safe passage through the Department of Mysteries.

He was here under orders, of a sort. After his failure at convincing the werewolves to fight on the Order's side, and the certain termination of his life if he was to ever attempt to return to the pack, Dumbledore in his infinite kindness had told Remus to take a holiday. "Do something that would make you happy," were the exact words he had used.

The problem was that Remus didn't really have a long list of those things any more.

He'd thought that he would be okay after Sirius's death. The crushing grief had felt no less and no more than when he'd thought Sirius had betrayed them, when Lily and James had died. It had been horrible, but he'd managed to soldier through his life.

But not this time. This time, he couldn't seem to draw his mind from the gaping hole in his heart. It was a void of blackness, waiting to engulf him when he lowered his guard.

Oh, he had tried to forget Sirius. He had even distracted himself with an attempt to rekindle his love life. Because Tonks had been so kind, so _understanding_, knowing all about is condition, and his history with Sirius, and still being willing to be with him.

And, more to the point, she had reminded him of her cousin just enough that he didn't have to fake the emotion he felt for her.

But in the end it hadn't been enough, and the two of them had grown more and more distant. And now, here he was. In search of the cure for his heartbreak.

He cautiously made his way through what felt like, and most probably was, the hundredth door he had opened in the last hour, and felt his heart clench when he recognised the room. Nothing had changed since the night his world came crashing down.

He walked down the flight of steps to the archway. Ah, how he knew that archway. He had only seen it once before in reality, but after all those nightmares about Sirius's death…he was quite familiar with it.

The security of the Ministry had been pathetic, and Remus doubted that he would get caught at this point, but all the same he didn't want to linger longer than necessary. The Veil was moving gently as though pushed by a light breeze. Remus knew it was calling to him.

He reached out a hand and touched the light fabric. It felt like…nothing. There were no words to describe the sensation, but Remus thought that it felt like nothing was there. No fabric, no air, no vacuum, no temperature, no sensation. Just…nothing.

It was unnerving, and made Remus hesitant about stepping through it, but his mind was already made up, and just the thought of seeing Sirius on the other side of that Veil…

He stepped through.

* * *

><p>Sirius, as he continued to tramp through the nothingness of this mysterious wasteland, felt something tug at him from deep in his chest. It was like an ache that made him feel slightly ill. It beckoned to him, telling him to go right.<p>

Who was he to disobey his chest? He altered his course, following the unmarked path the sensation told him to take.

* * *

><p>The first thought Remus had when he stepped through the veil was that he had to walk. He didn't know why, he just knew he had to walk. He knew where to walk though - somewhere to the left of where he was facing.<p>

The second thing he thought was how strange the place was. It was like nowhere he'd ever been before.

The third thing he thought was a memory.

"_It's almost the end of the school year, Padfoot," Remus said cautiously. The other man nodded and took a swing of butterbeer. _

_"Harry will be coming home for the holidays soon." The two of them were sitting in the kitchen of Grimmauld place. It was just the two of them there - a rarity, what with the normal amount of visitors. _

"_Yeah. Do you remember when we were at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked nostalgically. _

"_Like it was yesterday." Remus's voice was sad, causing Sirius to look up. "I sometimes wish we were back there."_

"_Yeah," Sirius agreed again. "When James and Lily were still alive, and we didn't know Peter was the scumbag he is. When we were young an innocent and carefree. Well…I say innocent lightly." He grinned._

_Remus nodded, trying to work up the courage to say the next bit. "Do you…ever wish we back there for other reasons, Sirius?" _

_Sirius hesitated. "Well…we weren't fighting in the war back then. And I hadn't been to Azkaban." He shuddered, and Remus had to resist the temptation to reach out and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. _

"_So no other reasons, then?" _

"_There are heaps of reasons why I would want to be back in Hogwarts, Moons," Sirius said. "What are main ones you would want to go back for?" The animagus had a suspicion at what Remus was getting at. _

"_Us." Remus's voice was quiet and Sirius had to strain to hear it. But the pain in the werewolf's voice reverberated through him. It wasn't hard to hear that._

"_You mean…when we were together?"_

_Remus nodded. "Do you not want that any more?"_

_Sirius was shocked. "I mentioned it…when I saw you after I escaped from Hogwarts…you changed the subject really quickly…I assumed you didn't want that any more."_

_Remus shook his head. "I changed the subject because I had just read Harry was in the Tri-Wizard Tournament in the Daily Prophet. I wanted a reliable source of news - it wasn't because I didn't want to discuss it." _

"_Oh. I thought it was because…" Sirius trailed off, looking down at his lap. _

"_Because what?" Remus prompted. _

"_Because I'm not really…whole…any more," Sirius whispered, not meeting Remus's eyes. _

"_What do you mean, not whole?"_

"_Well, after Azkaban…You know I still wake up screaming sometimes? In there I relived James' and Lily's deaths so many times…I'm not the man I used to be. I'm not the Sirius I used to be…I'm not whole."_

_Remus moved closer to Sirius and put an arm around his shoulder. "I haven't been whole since I was five years old, Pads. Did that ever stop you?"_

"_That's different," Sirius protested weakly. "You're still Moony…you're still sane!" _

"_So are you," Remus said gravely. "You might be different, but you're still you, and you aren't mad. Well, that's not really correct. You aren't any madder than you already were."_

"_Insanity runs in my blood," Sirius grinned weakly, a echoing what he had said often over sixteen years ago. "It's probably the reason I fell in love with a werewolf." _

"_Are you still in love with a werewolf?" Remus was smiling, but Sirius saw the tension in his expression, and heard the seriousness in his voice. _

"_Of course. And does the werewolf love me back?"_

"_Always."_

_The next week was the battle in the Department of Mysteries._

* * *

><p>As Remus wandered across the open plains he contemplated how different this place was. There was nothing but the ground he was walking on. No sky, no sun and - amazingly - no moon. No more transformations.<p>

He wondered if he would ever be able to find Sirius. He thought that perhaps the tugging in his chest was leading him to the animagus, but he couldn't be sure. He hoped he hadn't walked through the veil for nothing - it didn't seem likely he would manage to get back.

Time passed. Well, at least Remus thought it did. He wondered if it even existed, in this bleak world of nothingness. But he seemed to have walked for quite a way, at least.

He didn't falter in his stride, not even once. He just kept walking because he knew that if he stopped he would never find Sirius. He might not find him even if he continued to walk, but at least there was a chance.

His determination was to be rewarded. After what felt like his millionth step, the billionth mile, he raised his hanging head to see a dark blur on the horizon. He squinted in an attempt to make out what it was.

The blur did not appear to be humanoid, but Remus felt he recognised it. As he grew closer he managed to identify it.

A tree. What was a tree doing here? In the middle of a land bare of anything, with no water, no sun, and, judging by the strangeness of the earth, no nutrients in the soil.

He reached it sooner than expected. Remus raised his eyes in alight amusement as he began examining it - a dogwood tree. Oh, the irony.

It looked like a perfectly normal tree, other than the fact that the sight of it was so totally unexpected. Its leaves were healthy and Remus refrained from picking one off and examining it more closely - he was reluctant to disturb such perfection.

"Remus!"

The werewolf whipped around, almost falling over in his haste at the sound of a wonderfully familiar voice calling his name. There, sprinting across the open ground towards him, was none other than Sirius Black.

Remus was too occupied dashing towards the figure (who, in Remus's opinion, was dashing in his own right, even when not hurrying) to note the absence of the tug in his chest that had led him here.

And then they were in each others arms, laughing and crying, kissing and hugging, ecstatic to have found each other again.

After their joyful reunion was over they sat themselves underneath the dogwood tree, Sirius resting his head on Remus's chest, their hands entwined. It was the exact same position they had often been found in back when they were at Hogwarts, sitting by the lake with the other Marauders. It struck Remus how much had changed, yet was still the same.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, his thumb stroking across the scars on the back of Remus's hand. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you…"

"I followed you. Not immediately, not when you fell through the veil, but a while afterwards."

Sirius reached upwards and found Remus's face, stroking his hands along the strong jaw line. Remus's lips opened a little, letting out a small sigh at the pleasant touch.

"How did you know you'd find me?" Sirius asked, still caressing Remus's face. His thumb moved to Remus's cheek, and he ran it over the faint blush staining the man's usually pale skin.

"I didn't. I just couldn't stand staying there without you."

For a while there was silence, the only movements were their chests rising and falling with their slow breaths and Sirius hands, still innocently examining Remus's body as though he was trying to reacquaint himself with it.

"What do you think happens now?"

Remus shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think that it's been growing darker ever since I found this tree. As though night's falling."

"Impossible. There is no night."

Remus knew that too, but he didn't say anything. After a lengthy silence, Sirius spoke.

"I think you're right. It does seem to be getting dark."

"It's getting colder too."

Sirius realised Remus was right and he shivered, huddling closer into the werewolf.

They stayed like that until the land was a constant shade of grey, and they could barely make out each other's forms. They were both shivering now.

Then there was a crack, and a bright light illuminated the setting. Sirius jumped, wondering if it was some sort of thunderstorm.

"Look, Pads." Remus gently nudged Sirius, pointing to a spot about ten paces away from them. A swirling oval vortex-thing had appeared, emitting a bright light that lit up the setting.

"I think we're supposed to go through it."

Sirius cast a look around the darkened, chilled world. He didn't doubt Remus's theory.

"Where do you suppose it goes?" he asked. Sirius felt Remus shrug beside him.

"Maybe it's the other side of the veil, and we go through it to go back?"

"You think?" Sirius asked.

"Perhaps. Or maybe it takes us…on. You know. The afterlife."

"Should we go through it?"

Remus nodded. "Don't let go of my hand. Whatever you do."

"I won't," Sirius promised.

Remus stood, and pulled the other man to his feet. They shared a quick kiss before Sirius squared his shoulders and took the first step towards the vortex. He had to squint in the face of such brightness.

They spoke not another word as they stepped through, once more, to another world - together, this time.


	4. Epilogue

"_Well?" _

"_Well what?"_

"_What happened after they went through the portal thing? Did they die?"_

"_Oh Merlin, no," Teddy chuckled. "They were already in the land of the dead, they just couldn't see it. Why would they need to go through a portal for that?"_

"_So they're alive?"_

"_Not any more. It was a long time ago, lad. But yes, they returned to the land of the living, and survived the Battle of Hogwarts."_

"_And what happened then?"_

"_Well, they came home, and Remus found out that Tonks was pregnant…"_

"_Really? Was she mad?"_

"_I don't think so. In fact, I think she fell in love with Kingsley Shacklebolt at some point, so she understood."_

"_The Minster of Magic?" _

"_The very same."_

"_So what happened to their child?" _

"_Well, my father had a relatively normal life. They called him Teddy after Tonk's father… and I was named after him, you know."_

"_Remus Lupin is your grandfather?" Romulus exclaimed, his voice full of awe._

"_Yes indeed. You were named after him, you know. In muggle legends, Remus had a twin Romulus." _

"_Wow…" _

_They were silent for a moment as Romulus tried to absorb all this new, wondrous information about his heroes. Teddy took the opportunity to open the long-forgotten sandwiches. He handed one to his grandson and wordlessly they began to eat them. _

_Eventually Romulus asked, "So who was the old woman, who told Sirius to keep moving?" _

_Teddy smiled. "Well, no one actually knows. Perhaps she was a fellow traveller, as lost in the spirit world as Sirius was. I don't think so though, otherwise she never would have been able to create the oasis." _

"_So what do you think she was?" _

"_I think she was an envoy of Death. Either that or she was Death herself. Who else could have known what she knew and done what she did?"_

"_Did anyone else ever come back through the veil?" _

"_Alas, I'm not sure. Mayhap they did; I couldn't tell you. I only know my grandfather's story." _

"_How did the veil get here?" _

"_I'm not sure. Maybe it was moved here, after the Unspeakables discovered what it really was. Or maybe someone stole it." _

"_How did you know it was here?" _

"_My father brought me to it, when I was about as old as you are now."_

"_Oh." There was another long silence, then Teddy asked, "So…if I were to walk through it…?"_

"_You would most likely come out safe and sound on the other side." _

"_Can I try?"_

"_Absolutely not! What would your mother say if I had to explain to her that you were stuck wandering the spirit world?"_

"_I don't think she'd be very happy. You probably wouldn't get any of the cookies she said she'd bake for us when we get back." _

"_No, I don't think I would. And neither would you, so you'd best not try it, huh?" _

"_I guess…"_

"_That's my lad."_

"_Have you ever been through the veil?" _

"_I tried once, when I came of age. I was curious."_

"_And?"_

"_And nothing. I passed through it as though it was an old, moth-eaten curtain." _

"_That's not very exciting…" _

"_Sometimes the truth isn't. But sometimes it can be a wonderful, marvellous thing."_

"_Like with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black?" _

_Teddy Lupin Junior surveyed his grandson thoughtfully. "Yes," he said. "Exactly like with them." _

"_Do you think I'll ever meet someone who's been through it?" Romulus asked. A small smile pulled at Teddy's mouth. _

"_I don't know. It's not likely, but you do live in a house right at the bottom of the hill the Veil is on, so if anyone has a chance, it's you." _

_Romulus's eyes shone with excitement. "I can come up here after I've fed the pigs, and see if someone's come through!"_

"_You could," Teddy chuckled. _

"_I'll come up here every day!" Romulus promised. Teddy's chuckled turned into a quiet laugh. _

"_I don't doubt it," he said, rising from his seated position. "Not one bit."_


End file.
